Napoleonic Pleasures

Galerie des enfans célébres, by M. le comte de Barins, 1836 This delightful little book for young people was published in 1836. It was written to give the girls and boys born during the Restoration a vision of their glorious predecessors, of all nations, rank and destiny, and it included four engravings. Here (if not […]

The Statistics of ‘Napoleonic France’ The Bibliothèque Martial-Lapeyre Fondation Napoléon Library has recently acquired two series of publications giving contemporary statistics for the France during the later Consulate and early Empire. These will serve as fundamental research tools for all those interested in the period. The first is a 'universal' dictionary (described in the Notice as […]

La fête impériale, par Frédéric Loliée (Paris: F. Joven, 1907) Almost forty years after the fall of the Second Empire, people began to be nostalgic for that gay, insouciant Paris of Napoleon III, not however forgetting (or perhaps remembering especially) the darker side to her reputation. Whilst the extraordinary costume balls, the lights, the cafes, […]

Le vrai patineur (The true skater), Delespinasse, 1813 Whilst it is true that nowadays in winter in cities and towns the world over, children of all ages in search of a turn on the ice can find an outdoor rink in the town centre, Parisians of the First Empire looking for a quick skate had […]

Napoleon, a life, by John Holland Rose The life of Napoleon I: including new materials from the British official records, London : Bell, 1901 Born in Bedford, England, and after studying at Bedford Modern School, Holland Rose (1855 – 1942) was later educated at Owens College in Manchester in the 1870s. He was then elected […]

A History of the Peninsular War, by Sir Charles Oman Sir Charles William Chadwick Oman (January 12, 1860 – June 23, 1946) was born in India, the son of a British planter, and was educated at Oxford University, where he studied under William Stubbs. He was elected to the Chichele chair of modern history at […]

The official description of the Battle of Austerlitz, according to Napoleon’s instructions Starting during the Consulate, Napoleon Bonaparte ordered the Dépôt général de la guerre to write the history of his campaigns. The Consul, and later Emperor, gave the first 'instructions', and then corrected the proofs written by others. The aim was to create works […]

Mercure de France, 4 juillet 1807. Chateaubriand wrote: “It is in vain that Nero prospers …” The Mercure de France, the once celebrated literary review founded in the 17th century, which died many times but which was continually to be resuscitated, would not have been particularly noticed during the First Empire, had not the new […]

Histoire de l’Empereur Napoléon (History of the Emperor Napoleon), by Laurent de l’Ardèche, illustrated by Horace Vernet (Paris: J.-J. Dubochet, 1839) 1839: the statue of Napoleon once again stood on top of the Vendôme Column, the Arc de Triomphe was finished, the songs of Béranger recounting the fall of the eagle were hummed on streets […]

John R. Glover, secretary to Rear Admiral Cockburn (on board the "Northumberland"), with introd. and notes by J. Holland Rose, London, T. Fisher Unwin, 1906 Introduction  This previously unpublished account of Napoleon's voyage to St Helena by a British eyewitness was published almost simultaneously in French and English in 1893.The author was John Richard Glover, […]